The present invention relates to Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), and more particularly to sending an MMS message notification to a recipient mobile device via a public land mobile network (PLMN) and, if needed, a public switched telephone network (PSTN) and another PLMN.
In recent years, users of mobile devices, e.g., mobile telephones and pagers, have sent messages to one another using Short Messaging Service (SMS). Mobile radio networks utilize SMS in Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) networks. Messages are coordinated between the sender and the recipient using the sender's and recipient's respective Mobile Service Integrated Services Digital Network (MSISDN) numbers. These are essentially the phone numbers of the mobile devices. The SMS is integrated into the mobile radio communications network, thus it can use the mobile radio networks addressing and routing system to send messages to the mobile devices connected to the network. The SMS framework cannot be used for multimedia messaging because it is only possible to convey ASCII text messages of very limited sizes (up to 160 characters). This is because the SMS messages are sent over the signaling channel of the mobile radio network.
For the past several years, email communications over the Internet have proliferated. Email messages are routed over the Internet using Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) and email addresses. People wishing to use the Internet to send email messages are provided with an email account having an individualized email address. The Internet was created to allow computers to communicate with one another via a universal network. This in turn, allows users of the computers to share information and messages with one another. Communication between computers connected to the Internet is made possible with the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). This networking protocol provides for communication across interconnected networks, between computers with diverse hardware architectures and various operating systems. Part of user's enthusiasm for sending email stems from email's capability of including attachments of generally unlimited size. These attachments can include: image files; video files; sound files; and combination video and sound files. Accordingly, friends and family members can attach multimedia files to their email messages to share pictures, sounds and video with one another which enhances the communication experience.
Compared to personal computers, mobile devices are limited in their processing capacity due to battery limitations and consumer demand for small devices. While it is possible to send and receive email to and from a mobile device, the process is cumbersome and limited. One of the main problems with using email with a mobile device is the complexity of the system and the login procedures. Another problem is that it is not possible to push the email message to the recipient. Instead, the recipient has to pull new messages from a server connected to the Internet. Yet another problem is that there are no limitations on the content of email messages whatsoever. Therefore, attachments of unknown size and unknown formats may be included which may overwhelm the mobile device or mobile radio communication network.
As technology has evolved, bandwidth in mobile radio networks has greatly increased. This increased bandwidth makes it possible for users of mobile devices to send larger messages to one another. These larger messages can include text, images, video and sound. In addition, processing and memory capacity of mobile devices has advanced permitting multimedia messages to be stored in and presented by the mobile device. Therefore, it is now possible and desirable to send multimedia messages to users of mobile devices. The Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) initiated the standardization of MMS where the requirements for the first release (release 99) were defined in the following documents: Multimedia Messaging Service: Service aspects; Stage 1, Third Generation Partnership Project TS 22.140 Release 1999, available from www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/; and Multimedia Messaging Service: Functional description; Stage 2, Third Generation Partnership Project TS 23.140 Release 1999, available from www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/, both of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
MMS has evolved from the popularity of the SMS messaging system and uses the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP). WAP is a protocol that permits mobile devices to communicate with Internet servers via the mobile radio communications network. Since displays on mobile devices are much smaller (typically, 150×150 pixels) than computer monitor displays (typically, at least 640×480 pixels), a website designed to be displayed on a computer monitor cannot be displayed on a mobile device with any practicality. Also, mobile devices have considerably less processing power than personal computers. Accordingly, WAP was developed to allow mobile devices to access special Internet sites that are designed to be displayed on a mobile device and to provide an interface between the mobile device and the Internet. A user of a WAP enabled mobile device can access the Internet via the mobile radio communications network to shop, get stock quotes, get traffic and weather reports, etc.
MMS is a standard for sending and receiving multimedia messages. The multimedia messages can include any combination of formatted text, images, photographs, audio and video clips. The images can be in any standard format such as GIF and JPEG. Video formats such as MPEG4 and audio formats such as MP3 and MIDI are also supported by MMS. The WAP MMS specifications describe the format for the MMS messages from MMS Proxy Relay to the User Agent at the terminal with the mandatory steering field (Encapsulation document) and the sequence of these messages (Messaging Service Document) in the following documents: Multimedia Messaging Service: Service aspects; Stage 1, Third Generation Partnership Project TS 22.140 Release 4 (V4. 1.0), available from www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/; and Multimedia Messaging Service: Functional description; Stage 2, Third Generation Partnership Project TS 23.140 Release 4 (V4.2.0), available from www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/, both of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
The typical format of an MMS message is illustrated in FIG. 1. The MMS message includes headers 1. The headers 1 provide the routing information and addresses of the recipients and senders of the MMS message. The message body 2 includes the multimedia message which may include: images 3, which may be in the form of JPEG; formatted or plain text 4; audio 5, which may be in the form of a wave file; video 6, which may be in the form of a MPEG file; and may optionally include a presentation file 7 which presents the multimedia content to the recipient of the multimedia message.
MMS was created, in part, to overcome the aforementioned problems associated with using email with mobile devices. SMS messages are short allowing them to be transmitted on the signaling channel of the mobile radio communications network. MMS messages are much larger requiring that they be sent over the voice or data channel of the mobile radio communications network. The MMS can be seen as a new messaging framework defined in the “border” between the Internet and telecommunications, i.e., the clients are connected to the mobile telecommunications network and the servers are connected to the Internet. MMS messages are sent between mobile devices and MMS servers over the voice or data channel during dedicated sessions between the mobile device and MMS servers using WAP. This can be analogized as being similar to a session between a personal computer and the Internet using a modem and dial-up connection.
In SMS, messages are sent and received over the mobile communications network using MSISDN numbers of the respective mobile devices. Likewise, an MMS message can be addressed to the recipient's MSISDN number. As discussed above, MMS messages are routed through the Internet using SMTP. This presents a problem because once the message gets to the sender's MMS server, the MMS server wants to route the message to the recipient's MMS server, but does not know the recipient's MMS server address. The MMS message may be addressed only to the recipient's MSISDN number which provides no indication by itself of the recipient's MMS server. Accordingly, some way of associating the recipient's MMS server address with the recipient's MSISDN number is required.
What is needed, therefore, is a system and method to notify a recipient of a multimedia message by a sender of the multimedia message via the mobile radio communication network telling the recipient mobile device to retrieve the multimedia message from the Internet. This system and method, thereby, eliminates the problem of routing MMS messages through the Internet when the message is addressed with only a MSISDN number.